Teenage racing star Henry Sheffield found inspiration from team-mate Tom Mortimer when scooping silver and bronze.
Previously injured, 14 -year-old Sheffield missed out on competing at the English Schools’ National Championships but took the opportunity to watch Mortimer smash Steve Ovett’s 44-year-old 3000m British record and subsequently train with Stroud’s hot prospect.
After only two training sessions, he ran in Manchester in the England Athletic age group Championships in the 3000m, winning bronze.
Following two more weeks of training, he was selected to represent the South West Counties in the BMC festival of track miles races in London on Sunday.
The Mile race started with the Scotland representative taking it out at a good pace and after two laps, only Sheffield was with him and with 600m to go he kicked very hard for the win, quickly opening up a 15m lead which was not quite enough as he was overtaken with 30m to the finish line to win the silver medal.
Coach Chris Brown said “I am very pleased with how he ran today off such little training, if he had waited he would have won that race. Henry’s long push for home was impressive and will help with his longer-term development if unwise in the context of this race. His effort produced the fastest U15 B-mile race in the UK for 36 years. Henry’s time of 4min 29.70 not surprisingly break a 16-year-old club record by a massive 13s.”
